Payden McKnight

Payden Johnston (born D), better known by his stage name Payden McKnight (formerly Ya Boy Payden and PAYDEN), is an American rapper, singer, producer, YouTuber, actor and stalker from Coos Bay, Oregon. He was signed to Flex Entertainment in summer 2020 after being discovered by Lil Squeaky and Yung Garfield. He would leave the label on April 3, 2021 but would return that same year in June as an executive and the "top producer" of the label. He would stay active for around half a year before falling into inactiveness and lack of motivation which would lead him to depart the label by the end of September 2022.

He is best known for his songs "CEILING FAN", "No Show", "This is my Country", "Hoppin in the Back", "REVENGE" and "INSANITY". His debut mixtape under his current stage name titled "iKnight Radio" was a certified hit and contained various chart topping hits including "BUMP THIS" the aforementioned "CEILING FAN" and "Insanity".

His music contains a vocal delivery not too different from famous rapper Kendrick Lamar as well as plenty of one liners and witty bars. He has usually produced most of his own music similarly to superstar Lil Squeaky and also goes melodic often just like him. He is also known for the many Flex Entertainment inside jokes that would often spring from events involving him.

Beginnings and Pajamas Productions (2019)
Payden would start out as a YouTube by the name of Pajamas Productions. His channel was not very well known but he would release countless videos often being about different music artists. His review of Lil Darkie's debut album "THIS DOES NOT EXIST" would blow up after being posted on reddit and would amass a ton of hate from Lil Darkie's fans who disagreed with Payden's takes on the project. Payden would soon discover the YouTuber known as Brad Taste in Music and would find out about his music and Flex Entertainment in early 2019 as Flex Gang, Vol. 1 would release. He would not pursue signing to the label until after The Evolution of Music by Travis Scotch showed up randomly in his recommended. He would then join the Flex Entertainment Discord Server and and get to know the community really well. He would become decent friends with then Flex artists Lil Kraqqen and Yung Schmoobin and then finally decided to join.

Signing to Flex Entertainment & 16-Bit Fantasy (2020)
Payden sent a rough demo of his song "This Is My Country" to every single Admin and Executive, but only Lil Squeaky and Yung Garfield responded. They were playing Roblox: Work at a Pizza Place and decided to listen to it. They immediately signed Payden to Flex Entertainment after that as Lil Squeaky said to him, "Yeah, You've Got Potential." He was signed the same day as Lil Kraqqen and R&d. R&d and Payden ended up collaborating together on 2 songs that appear on Ya Boy Payden's debut mixtape, 16-Bit Fantasy.

16-Bit Fantasy is the debut mixtape of Ya Boy Payden that releases October 23rd, 2020. Originally called This is My Country, it's an 11 track mixtape where every track has a sample from a song from any OST from a video game on the console Super Nintendo Entertainment System (his favorite video game console). The mixtape originally was gonna be sampling songs from Donkey Kong Country, but that changed very soon. Payden, with the low budget he had, was looking for somebody to mix it. Originally R&d was going to mix the 2 tracks he was on, but Payden eventually found Daniel Ryšavý on Discord. Daniel ended up producing, mixing, and mastering every single track on the mixtape, except the 1st track which is a 17-second intro. This mixtape features the well known Depp Gibbs, Young Seagull, White Fury, and 2 features from R&d. Payden originally planned on releasing 2 singles and 3 music videos to hype up the release of 16-Bit Fantasy, but he ended up having no singles and instead just releasing 3 music videos for the songs, "The Life of Payden", "This is My Country", "The Other Life of Payden", and "Celebration". There was also a follow-up mixtape named 16-Bit Universe that was cancelled as well as a full-length LP. The song "Hoppin' in the Back" debuted at No. 19 on the Flex Hot 100, his highest-charting entry to date.

Snitching to Fame and The Wonder Years (2021)
Long story short, Ya Boy Payden snitched on himself after letting a bunch of people into his Zoom Physics class and then he got grounded for the entire month of October 2020. This led to him not being active which then led to him becoming an icon of the Payden Pack branding as well as Harriet Tubman memes spiking in the Flex Entertainment Discord. He announced he would be releasing various projects throughout the next few months including "The Wonder Years" and "YaBoyPayden Season." He made the bold claim that Flex would "burn to the ground" in 2021. He later apologized for his comments and returned to the label on December 15. He released a new single "Addiction To Being Humilated" on January 1, 2021 as the lead single for "The Wonder Years." He departed from Flex Entertainment on April 3, 2021. The extended play was released on April 9, 2021 to negative reviews.

Return to Flex Entertainment and Payden Saves The World (2021)
He returned to the Flex Entertainment Discord Server in June 2021. Mosquito made a proposal that if Jake and Payden returned to the label, they would become executives. He started rolling out his second mixtape with various snippets on his social media platforms, ending with the date of July 30. He released his first singles back in the label "WARZONE" and the solo version of "AYE" on July 16. "WARZONE" and "AYE debuted at No. 18 and No. 72 respectively. He announced his second mixtape "Payden Saves The World" that would be released on July 30, 2021. The third single for the mixtape "MIAMI (Hotline)" with J Coyn Drive was released on July 23. It debuted at No. 5, becoming his highest debut on the chart. "Payden Saves The World" received mixed reviews from critics. The tape was praised for its production, but its concept was criticized for being underwritten. Despite the reception, it made a significant impact commercially. Every song debuted in the Top 50, competing with WT's "Thank U Next 2." The three singles reached the top 5 on the release week. The following week, "PAPERCUT" with Lil Toy Yoda leaped to the number one spot on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100 after a massive streaming surge, becoming his first career number one. Its consistent success is due to its inclusion on various twenty-one pilots playlists as it includes a sample of one of their unreleased songs "I Need Something (To Kill Me)."

101.2 & iKnight Radio (2021)
Payden announced he would release his third mixtape by the end of 2021. He began the rollout with the first single "Ghost Pepper Salad" on October 8, 2021. The theme of the rollout was that he would release a new single or music video every Friday at 7:00 PM PST. This run of singles would end on December 10 with the release of "IKnight Radio." "Breezy" and "One-Sided" got released on the 15th and 22nd. The three singles didn't end up making the official album but were included on the first extended play "101.2 (001-003)." "Ceiling Fan", "Raindrops and Butterflies", and "Loophole" were released on October 29th, November 5th, and November 12th. They all got complied on a second extended play "101.2 (004-006)." "Neighborhood", "Bump This" and "Insanity" were released on November 19th, November 26th, and December 3rd. They would get included on another extended play "101.2 (007-009)." The songs that actually ended up on the official mixtape were "Ceiling Fan", "Loophole", "Bump This", and "Insanity." "iKnight Radio" received positive reception from critics and fans alike for a period of time, considered to be one of the best Flex Entertainment releases from 2021 and all time. Its concept was praised the most for its radio-like vibe that The Weeknd allegedly stole with "Dawn FM." The concept was said to be a massive improvement over his previous mixtape. It was his most commercially successful release, debuting the entire album in the top twenty. "Ceiling Fan" become a sleeper hit, peaking at No. 5 on the Hot 100. "Insanity" also receiving a push on streaming platforms, peaking at No. 12.

Days Before McDonald's, isolated singles & departure (2022)
Payden announced that he has began production for his next mixtape that will be released in 2022. He collaborated with hyperpop artist Boen on the now deleted song "Caffeine", introducing each other to their audiences. It would peak at No. 6 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100. He released a one-off single "Issa Vibe" to tie ends to the "iKnight Radio" saga. The song peaked at No. 16 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100. It has been a subject to several memes including the use of the song title and his screaming and poor lyricism. Squeaky and Payden announced that they would be joining forces on an album called "McDonalds." It was scheduled to release in the summer of 2022. They put out two B-Side EPs with four songs from each artist on March 5, 2022. Sadly, McDonalds would appear to be cancelled a few months due to Payden no longer being able to swear on songs anymore. Ever since the reception of "Issa Vibe" and the loud minority of people who despised "iKnight Radio", he would become a lot less active in the Flex server to the dismay of the community. Anytime Payden would attempt to interact with the community, he would be perceived in a negative way due to Payden's apparent bitterness and distaste for others in the label. He would produce Beetlebat's smash hit "Innocent." as well as collaborate with him again on his next single "This Year" which released on July 26, 2022. Payden would continue releasing singles into the summer with "whatudoin" and "ecstasy" dropping. These singles however were not met with much positive reception or reception at all as they flew under the radar due to Payden's constant inactiveness in the Flex community with many people calling him a "private caller". Many backtracked their opinions of 'iKnight Radio" which ended up going through the average acclaimed Flex album phase where it is praised at the start than called overrated within a few months. After months of thought, Payden decided to leave Flex Entertainment on October 15 to focus more on the Island Collective and to distance himself from the community.

Promotional Singles
Features